JEM pair hit top form as weekend weather shines on Portsmouth Winter League fixture programme

JEM men’s 1sts led the way with a 4-0 caning of Avenue 1sts, keeping up the pressure on Warsash at the top of the table, writes ALAN BEST.

Avenue had no answer to the power and skill of Shaun de Jong and Zizheng Zin, who lost only five games in four sets.

Two divisions down, Chichester 2nds defeated Avenue 3rds 4-0 to remain in the second promotion place. But, having completed their season, cannot challenge leaders Lee 3rds.

Lee were denied the chance to secure the full three points when bottom team Warsash 3rds put on a spirited display to share the rubbers 2-2. Lee took two points from the winning draw, thanks to the set won by Dan Thurgood and Jon Lee in their losing rubber against Michael Isaacs and Jon Tims.

The dropped point may well prove to be crucial if Ryde Mead can win both their final matches.

Despite having to play 10 matches in the winter season, as opposed to the seven usually played by the men, the ladies leagues are almost always finished first.

Court X hosted Avenue 2nds in Ladies Division 2 and the two wrapped up their seasons with a comfortable 3-1 win for the home side.

Warsash 2nds also completed their programme, securing second place with a 4-0 win over Lee 2nds.

Two cracking matches in Ladies 4 saw the rubbers shared in both.

Leaders JEM Tennis were pegged back by a Fishbourne team fighting to avoid relegation. Fishbourne’s Cressida Williams and Sandra Reidel lost the first set to Fi Farley and Aurelie Hemphill, but won the second on a tie break and then took the match tie break.

JEM’s second pair, Chanelle Martin and Florence Gimonet, defeated Kate Gurl and Debbie Jupe in straight sets.

Gurl and Jupe went on to beat Farley and Hemphill but, with JEM winning the final rubber in straight sets, they claimed the winning draw points by 5 sets to 4.

Neither team in the Rowlands Castle 1sts v Lee 3rds contest would have any say in the Division 4 promotion race, but both needed points in the relegation fight.

Lee started well, with second pair Wendy Hadfield and Cath Austin taking the first set off Castle’s top pair, Dawn Wears and Sue Palmer, 6-1. But Wears and Palmer recovered to take the rubber to a match tie break, which they duly won.

Lee triumphed in the other first round rubber, also on a match tie break, leaving just one game separating the teams.

The 1’s v 1’s reverse rubber quickly went Lee’s way, but Michele Harpur and Liz Marenghi kept Castle in the game, winning the first set 6-2 and then leading the second 5-2. One more game for Castle would secure a rare tie, but it was not to be. Hadfield and Austin took the next game, and that was enough to secure Lee the winning draw points by just one game.

The consolation for Castle was that the losing draw point they gained secured their position in the division for next season.

The face-off between the two bottom teams in Mixed 2 ended with the rubbers shared, CourtX taking the winning draw point 5 sets to 4 thanks to the set won by Lynn Candlish and Ryan Anders in their losing rubber against Miles Quinn and Karen Kirwan.

In Mixed 3, Chichester eased past Fishbourne 3-1 while Ryde Lawn 3 beat Rowlands Castle by a similar margin.

Carlton Green won two match tie breaks to get past Wickham in a match which was much closer than the 4-0 scoreline suggests.

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